A Ludwigsburg porcelain miniature figure group of the Dice Players from The Venetian Carnival Series, circa 1770

Jean Wurz Collection, Mannheim, sold at Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, December 10-11, 1924, lot 31;

Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, 7 October 1996, lot 333.

Dr. Claudia Jobst, Frühe Deutsche Porzellane Kunst und Einrichtungen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Röbbig, Munich, 1999, p. 104-105, ill. p. 105.

The Venetian Carnival series of figures modelled at Ludwigsburg is associated with the factory's patron, Carl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg (1728-1793). In 1767, the Duke stayed in Venice for almost half a year where he would have attended the Ascension Day regatta. The following year, in January, the Duke initiated a Venetian Fair held in the Ludwigsburg market place, which became an annual event until his death in 1793. The Ludwigsburg figure series is discussed by Sabine Hesse, Herzog Carl Eugens Venezianische Messe in Ludwigsburg und Stuttgart, Landesmuseum Württemberg, 2008, and an example of the dice players group is illustrated in Hans Dieter Flach, Ludwigsburger Porzellan, Fayence, Steingut, Kacheln, Fliesen, Stuttgart, 1997, p. 597, no. 786.

A further example of this model, together with another model of figures eating a roast chicken, from the same series, were sold, Property from the Collection of the Late Paula and Don Gaston, Sotheby’s, New York, 12 April 2022, lot 82.